jamaican jerk chicken bowls

$8.93 recipe / $2.23 serving

If you’ve never had (or heard of) jerk seasoning, it is a sweet and spicy mix of flavors unique to the caribbean. I had to balance cost and convenience this weekend so I ended up using a bottled marinade. If you’d like to try your hand at making it from scratch, here is a great recipe. I was a little disappointed in the selection of pre-made jerk marinades at my local stores (I checked two stores). Even though I went with an inexpensive brand, the resulting chicken was mouth-watering delicious.

I paired the sweet and spicy chicken with some black beans that were simmered with jalapenos and garlic, sweet pineapple chunks and fried plantains all over a bed of savory coconut rice. The slight creaminess of coconut rice is perfect to mellow out the spices in the jerk marinade and jalapeno black beans. If other tropical fruits, like mango or papaya, happen to be on sale, scoop those up and use them in place of the pineapple chunks. I garnished with green onion but cilantro would also be an appropriate match.

Perhaps the best part about this recipe is that it was so quick and easy… everything came together in the amount of time that it took to cook the rice. So, although it looks complex, this could easily be a gourmet week-night dinner!

Begin cooking your rice by placing 1.5 cups of long grain jasmine rice in a pot with 2 cloves minced garlic, ½ tsp of salt, one can of light coconut milk and 1.5 cups (or one can full) of water. Stir once to combine ingredients. Cover the pot and bring it up to a boil over high heat. Once it reaches a full boil, reduce the heat to warm/low and let simmer for 30 minutes. Turn the heat off after 30 minutes and let it rest until you are ready to serve. Fluff with a fork just before serving.

Preheat a countertop grill for 5 minutes. Once warm, grill your first chicken breast for 6 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and grill the second breast. Slice the breasts diagonally into strips.

While the chicken is cooking, mince another clove of garlic. Deseed and mince one jalapeno. Place the jalapeno and garlic in a small pot with ½ Tbsp of olive oil. Saute them for about 2 minutes over medium/high heat or just until soft. Add the can of black beans (undrained), reduce the heat to low and let until you are finished preparing the rest of the ingredients.

To make the plantains, heat 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil in a heavy skillet. Peel and slice the plantain into diagonal medallions. Fry the medallions on each side until they are caramelized and brown (3-4 min on each side). Transfer the plantains to a plate with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

To assemble the bowls, begin with 1 cup of coconut rice. Top the rice with ½ of a chicken breast (about 4 oz.), ⅓ cup of black beans, ⅓ cup of pineapple chunks (with some juice) and ¼ of the plantain medallions. Garnish with chopped green onions or cliantro.

Notes

Marinate the chicken in the jerk seasoning in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. Do this either the night before or in the morning before you leave for work.

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Step By Step Photos

Marinate the chicken in the refrigerator either over night or while you are at work. The longer it marinates the better it tastes!

Begin making your rice first. Combine jasmine rice, garlic, salt, coconut milk and 1.5 cups of water in a pot. Bring to a boil with a lid then reduce to low and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Turn the heat off after thirty minutes and let rest until ready to serve. Fluff with a fork just before serving.

While the rice cooks, grill the marinated chicken using a counter top grill (6 minutes for each piece). Be sure to preheat the grill first.

Slice the grilled chicken into strips.

Saute the minced jalapeno and garlic in 1/2 Tbsp of olive oil for 2-3 minutes.

Add the can of black beans including the liquid, reduce the heat to low and let simmer while the rest of the meal comes together.

Peel and slice the plantain into medallions.

fry the plantain slices in 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil until they are brown on each side.

Drain plantains on a paper towel covered plate.

Assemble the bowl with rice on the bottom, chicken, beans, plantains and pineapple on top. Dig in!

NOTE: If you are using boneless, skinless chicken breasts like I did here, make sure to buy them in a value pack. I bought a five pound package and divided it up into bags of 2 breasts each when I got home. I used one for this recipe and the rest were frozen for later use. I paid $1.98 per pound but the smaller packs (1-2 lbs.) were priced at $3.38 per pound. You could also use thigh meat for this recipe if you prefer dark meat and it is usually a lot less expensive than boneless, skinless breasts.

I used half of the bottle of marinade, which was probably even more than I needed. The rest can be saved by transferring it to a freezer bag and freezing for later use. The marinade will thaw very quickly when the sealed bag is placed under running water.

This was my first time cooking with plantains and I’ll admit, they were a little different than expected. After looking around at recipes and preparation methods (there are a MILLION ways to cook them), I decided on this pan fry method. I didn’t want to deep fry because it just required too much oil. I let the plantain ripen for a few days because I wanted it to add a slightly sweeter element to the dish. It was a little bland so I may try caramelizing regular bananas next time I make this dish!

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21 Comments

This is one of my favorite budgetbytes recipes! I used the juice from the canned pineapple with the beans; I reduced the juice with the garlic in the pan before adding the beans. I also grilled the pineapple. The coconut rice is so easy and delicious, and several friends have asked me how I make such good rice after tasting it!

I’m the child of West Africans, and gotta co-sign the advice to let the plantains ripen until they’re pretty much black before you fry them. That’s how you get the deeply sweet, slightly tangy “maduros-style” fried plantains that are common in most of the world’s warm places. They hold up a lot better than fried bananas, and have a very different flavor profile. More acidity, more texture, yet very soft. Great for complementing whatever they’re usually sharing a dish or bowl with. Under-ripened plantains, or plantains that look “banana ripe,” are their own thing when fried — more like latin tostones — but can be a, well, underwhelming experience if you’re expecting maduros. Oh, and freaking loving this blog, by the way. Cheers!

This recipe is interesting. I really liked the creaminess of the rice, and the beans were super flavorful. I also liked the contrast of the pineapple. The plantains left something to be desired. They tasted like potatoes (I know that that’s really what they’re supposed to taste like if they’re not super ripe, but it was still surprising)! I think next time I will toss them in some of the jerk spices after cooking them to add some sweetness. My chicken was also not very “jerk,” which was probably the fault of the cheap marinade I had to buy (it was the only one I could find). I think next time I will cut the chicken into strips so that there’s more flavor in it and see if that helps. I still liked the basic dish, so I’m excited to experiment and see what I can do with it.

I liked this recipe and would like to make it again but I feel it needs something. Separately everything was delicious but the coconut rice didn’t have a lot of flavor. All put together I felt that I needed some kind of sauce. The rice wasn’t dry but it kind of overwhelmed the dish. The black beans were the best I’ve ever tasted – surprisingly from a can with just two ingredients! Maybe I should have dressed the rice up with a bit of the marinade.

My rice ended up burning on the bottom. I thought 30 min seemed too long b/c I normally don’t do it longer then 20 min, but decided to follow directions exactly. Plantains were a bit tricky b/c I had never cooked them before either. I think I may try deep frying next time to get a more consistant cooking/color on them.

Made everything but the plantains (none to be found here) The beans were the nicest surprise. Not what I was expecting and very flavourful. Would have been even better if I had turned off the burner when they were done instead of forgetting and walking away to fold laundry… testament to how tasty they were, even after that.

Everything blended well together, and the coconut rice was outta this world!

Dinner # 22 and today we are trying the buffalo chicken sandwiches. Keep it up chica!!

I hope to see more meals like this one, it has the right amount of flavor as well as filling. I have cut back on the portions of it, I have 6 ppl to feed and this recipe works for all 6 of us. It is great. I enjoy the blog, thanks for doing it.

Hit the plantains on all sides with a wooden spoon to soften. Peel and cut into 5 pieces each. In a large skillet, melt butter and oil on high heat; add plantains. Fry until brown. Combine sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and water. Reduce heat to low and pour liquid over plantains. Continue cooking until the liquid thickens, about 15 minutes. 4-5 Servings.

Favorite way to make plantains…mmmmmmm.I’m so excited about this recipe–it looks awesome!

If the plantains were bland, try them again but sprinkle a small bit of kosher salt on them right when you pull them out of the oil. This makes a HUGE difference, and the slight salty flavor really brings out the sweetness.

Hi! I’m Beth…

As a food lover and a number cruncher I've decided that cooking on a budget shouldn't mean canned beans and ramen noodles night after night. This is my web log of good food cooked with little cash. My stomach is full and my wallet is too. Read More